Choosing a vehicle tracking system to monitor your fleet can be a difficult decision, follow these tips to help ensure you choose the right provider for your business.
The Supplier
You are establishing a trust relationship with a company that is tracking your precious assets. Be sure to choose the right company that will help you when you need it.
1. Proven track record and a low-cost or free trial
The company and system have been operating for a few years. Companies that offer a free trial and an easy cancellation options are demonstrating that their customers continue to work with them, these are good signals.
2. Direct telephone support
You can pick the phone up and speak directly to those who can help you (sales or support) not via a call center. Try calling support before you make a decision on which company to choose.
3. Fair Pricing and easy Cancellation
Cost always matters, although nowadays the benefits of knowing where your vehicles and drivers are at all times is significantly higher than the costs of all the tracking systems on the market.
Essential Tracking Features
4. Live 24 x 7 mapping
You can see your fleet’s actual location at any time. the maps should be easy to read, and adjustable to suit how you want to work.
5. Ease of use
This can be subjective, but if you are going to be spending some time each day using the service, you need to feel that it is enjoyable to use.
6. Accurate and comprehensive reporting
Reliance on GPS can lead to approximate reporting. A trial with one vehicle for a few weeks will reveal this.
7. Integration
Any vehicle tracking system will have some basic fleet management features, you may still want to integrate it with other systems in your organisation (such as route planning, delivery verification, asset tracking and more) for which you will need a proven rich API (application programming interface). Ask your vendor if they have this and to see the documentation.
The Tracking Device
8. Remote device diagnostics
Can the vendor perform remote diagnostics and upgrades. This will reduce your need to be messing about with the physical devices in your vehicles.
9. Features of the device particular to your needs
Perhaps you need to be able to access video footage from a dash-cam, or support additional sensors (door-openings etc) or perhaps you need a sleep mode that doesn’t drain the battery after weeks of being parked up. Ask these questions.
Others
Every company is different, you will have specific needs that are important to you and your business. They may determine which solution suits you most. Understand them and ask questions.
10. Characteristics that Matter to your Business
When comparing features between suppliers, note that most suppliers have different plans which some features disabled on the lower plans. And some features may be particularly important to your business, you need to know the questions before making a decision. For example:
Geofences for alerts on vehicles visiting a location
- Harsh braking alerts/reporting
- Speed limit violation
- Excessive Idling
- Seamless Tracking on international journeys vehicle abroad
- A public tracking page (e.g. for bus travellers)
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